Pallava dynasty பல்லவர்
Kingdom
← 4th-–9th century AD →   →
Pallava territories during Narasimhavarman I c. 645 AD. This includes the Chalukya territories occupied by the Pallavas.
Capital	Kanchi
Language(s)	Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu
Religion	Hinduism
Government	Monarchy
Historical era	Ancient-Middle Ages
- Established	4th-
- Disestablished	9th century AD
Today part of	India

Pallava dynasty (early 4th century - late 9th century AD) ruled northern Tamil Nadu and southern Andhra Pradesh of present day India with their capital at Kanchi. They established themselves as a notable rising power in the region in third-fourth century and by the beginning of the seventh century AD, the Pallavas along with the Chalukyas of Badami and the Pandyas of Madurai, emerged to be the three major states of southern India.^[1]

The term pallava means creeper, and is a Sanskrit version of the Tamil word tondai. The Pallavas were a local tribe with their authority in the Tondainadu. The Pallavas gained prominence after the eclipse of the Satavahana dynasty, whom the Pallavas served as feudatories.^[2][3]

They attacked and wiped out the weakened Chola state, and reduced the Cholas into a marginal role in South India. The Gupta emperor Samudragupta is known to have brought Pallavas under their sway. The early Pallavas came into conflict with the Kadambas, the rulers of northern Karnataka and Konkan in the fourth century AD. Soon Pallavas recognized the Kadamba authority over them. The revolt led by the Kalabhras affected the Pallavas and it was put down by the allied efforts of Pallavas, Pandyas and Chalukyas. After the Kalabhra upheaval the long struggle between the Pallavas and Chalukyas of Badami for supremacy in peninsular India began. Both tried to establish control over the Krishna-Tungabhadra doab. Although the Chalukya ruler Pulakeshin II almost reached the Pallava capitalm his second invasion ended in failure. The Pallava ruler Narasimhavarman occupied Vatapi, defeated the Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras. The conflict resumed in the first half of the eight century with multiple Pallava setbacks. The Chalukyas overrun them completely in 740 AD, ending the Pallava supremacy in South India.

Kanchi, the Pallava capital, was a city of temples and Vedic learning under them. They also granted numerous villages free of taxes to the Brahmanas. In the early centuries of the Christian era the Pallavas founded their colonies in Sumatra, present day Indonesia.

Introduction[link]

The Pallavas captured Kanchi from the Cholas as recorded in the Velurpalaiyam Plates, around the reign of the fifth king of the Pallava line Kumaravishnu I. Thereafter Kanchi figures in inscriptions as the capital of the Pallavas. The Cholas drove the Pallavas away from Kanchi in the mid-4th century AD, in the reign of Vishugopa, the tenth king of the Pallava line.^[4] King Vishugopa was defeated and then liberated by Samudra Gupta of the Gupta Empire. The Pallavas re-captured Kanchi in the mid-6th century, possibly in the reign of Simhavishnu, the fourteenth king of the Pallava line, whom the Kasakudi plates state as "the lion of the earth". Thereafter the Pallavas held on to Kanchi till the 9th century AD, with the last king having been Vijaya-Nripatungavarman.^[4]

From sixth to eight centuries AD, the long struggle between the Pallavas and the Badami Chalukyas for the supremacy over the Tungabhadra-Krishna doab was the primary political activity in peninsular India. Chalukya ruler Pulakeshin II almost reached the Pallava capital at Kanchi, but peace was made between them by purchasing Vengi (Rayalaseema) to the Chalukyas. However Pulakeshin's second Pallava invasion ended in failure with Pallava ruler 'Vatapikonda' Narasimhavarman I occupying the Chalukya capital Vatapi. King Narasimhavarman also defeated the Pandyas, the Cholas and the Cheras. Later, in 740 AD, Badami Chalukya ruler Vikramaditya II ended the Pallava supremacy in southern India permanently^[5] and the Pallava dominions were passed to the Chola kings in 9th century AD.

After a careful study of Pallava genealogy with all the available material, of no less than 45 inscriptions, Rev. H. Heras put forth the theory that there was an unbroken line of Pallava kings, twenty-four of them in number, who originally ruled at some city of the Telugu country, possibly at Dasanapura, which the Darsi Copper Plates state as their adhisthana.^[4] Dasanapura has been identified as Darsi, in Nellore district.^[6][7] The Pallavas were not a Tamil power, they were a native Telugu power; and Telugu Sources know of a Trilochana Pallava.^[8] The earliest inscriptions of the Pallavas were found in the districts of Bellary, Guntur and Nellore.^[9]

The royal custom of using a series of descriptive honorific titles, birudas, was particularly prevalent among the Pallavas. The birudas of Mahendravarman I are in Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu. The Telugu birudas show that his involvement with the Andhra region continued to be strong at the time he was creating his cave-temples in the Tamil region.^[10] The suffix "Malla" was used by the Pallava rulers.^[10] Mahendravarman I used the biruda, Satrumalla, "a warrior who overthrows his enemies", and his grandson Paramesvara I was called Ekamalla "the sole warrior or wrestler". Pallavas kings, persumably exalted ones, were known by their title, Mahamalla or the "great wrestler".^[11]

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Origins[link]

Telugu traditions know of a certain Trilochana Pallava as the earliest Telugu King, which is confirmed by later inscriptions .^[9] Trilochana Pallava was killed by a Chalukya King near Mudivemu, Cuddapah District. A Buddhist story describes Kala the Nagaraja, resembling the Pallava Kalabhartar as a king of the region near Krishna district. The Pallava Bogga may be identified with the kingdom of Kala in Andhra which had close and early maritime and cultural relations with Ceylon.^[9] Rev Heras also identified King Bappa with Kalabhartar (aka Kalabhartri), "the head jewel of the family", whom Rev Heras proposes as the founder of the dynasty, detecting in the references to Bappa in the Hirahadagalli and Uruvapalli plates, "the flavour of antiquity and veneration which always surround the memory of the founder of a dynasty".^[4]

The earliest Tamil literature which throws light on a region associated with the Pallavas is the Ahananuru, which locates the elder Tiriyan in Gudur, Nellore district, with a kingdom extending to Tirupati or Thiruvengadam.^[12] This Tiriayan is called the elder in order to distinguish him from the younger Tiraiyan whose capital was Kanchipuram.^[12][13] The Sangam work, Perumbanarruppatai, traces the line of the younger Tiriyan (aka Ilam Tiriyan) to the Solar dynasty of Ikshvakus, while the later Tamil commentators identify him as the illegitimate child of a Chola king and a Naga princess.^[12]

Sangam literature, that is, Manimekhalai describes the liaison of Princess Pilli Valai of Nāka Nadu with King Killivalavan of Chola Nadu at Nainativu; out of which union was born Prince Tondai Ilandiraiyan. Thus, Sangam literature posits Ilam Tiriyan as a Chola, not a Pallava. As per popular belief, it is suggested that Pallavas were an off-shoot or branch of the Cholas. It is also claimed that the Sangam work Manimekhalai possibly alludes to their formation from an ancient Chola-Nāka alliance.

However, historically, the Velurpalaiyam plates, dated to 852 AD, does not mention the Cholas. Instead it credits the Naga liaison episode, and creation of the Pallava line, to a different Pallava king named Virakurcha, while preserving its legitimizing significance:^[14]

...from him (Aśvatthāman) in order (came) Pallava, the lord of the whole earth, whose fame was bewildering. Thence, came into existence the race of Pallavas... [including the son of Chūtapallava] Vīrakūrcha, of celebrated name, who simultaneously with (the hand of) the daughter of the chief of serpents grasped also the complete insignia of royalty and became famous.

Historically, early relations between the Nagas and Pallavas became well established before the myth of Pallava's birth to Ashwatthama took root.^[9] A praśasti (literally "praise"), composed in 753 AD on the dynastic eulogy in the Kasakadi plates, by the Pallava Trivikrama, traces the Pallava lineage from creation through a series of mythic progenitors, then praises the dynasty in terms of two similes hinged together by triple use of the word avatara ("descent"), as below:^[14]

From [them] descended the powerful, spotless Pallava dynasty [vaṁśāvatāra], which resembled a partial incarnation [aṃśāvatāra] of Visnu, as it displayed unbroken courage in conquering the circle of the world...and which resembled the descent of the Ganges [gaṅgāvatāra] as it purified the whole world.

The Genealogy of Pallavas mentioned in the Māmallapuram Praśasti is as follows:^[14]

• Vishnu
• Brahma
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Bharadvaja
• Drona
• Ashvatthaman
• Pallava
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Simhavarman I (circa 275 AD)
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Simhavarman IV (436 AD - circa 460 AD)
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Skandashishya
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Simhavisnu (circa 550-585 AD)
• Mahendravarman I (ca. 571-630 AD)
• Maha-malla Narasimhavarman I (630-668 AD)
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Paramesvaravarman I (669-690 AD)
• Rajasimha Narasimhavaram II (690-728 AD)
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Pallavamalla Nandivarman II (731-796 AD)
• Unknown / undecipherable
• Nandivarman III (846-69)

Etymology of Tondai[link]

The word Tondai means a creeper and the term Pallava conveys a similar meaning.^[15] KA Nilakanta Sastri postulated that Pallavas were descendants of a North Indian dynasty of Indian origin who moved down South, adopted local traditions to their own use, and named themselves after the land called Tondai as Tondaiyar.^[15][16]

KP Jayaswal also proposed a North Indian origin for them, putting forward the theory that the Pallavas were a branch of the Vakatakas.^[15] The association with Vakatakas is corroborated by the fact that the Pallavas adopted imperial Vakataka heraldic marks, as is evident from Pallava insignia. The Pallavas had on their seal, the Ganga and Yamuna, known to be Vakataka insignia^[17]

The Sangam literature epic Manimekhalai describes that the first Pallava king, Ilam Thiraiyan (or younger Thiraiyan), was born of a liaison between a Naga princess named Pilli Valai (Pilivalai) and a Chola king named Killi (Killivalavan). Ilam Tiriyan was lost in a ship-wreck and found washed ashore with a twig (pallava) of the Tondai creeper, Cephalandra indica, coiled around his ankle. Hence he derived the name Tondai-man from the Tondai creeper. He became an independent ruler and the territory ruled by him came to be known as Tondaimandalam, or 'Realm of the Tondai'.^[18]

PT Srinivasa Iyengar says 'Tondaiyar' means the "tribe whose symbol was the Tondai creeper". Tondai or Coccinia indica is commonly known as Kōvai in Tamil in modern times, but the name Doṇḍe is the ordinary name for the plant in Telugu.^[19] Hence, Doṇḍe became Tonde or Tondai. Coccinia indica is also known as Cephalandra indica. See Coccinia grandis.

Languagues used[link]

All the early Pallava royal inscriptions are either in Prakrit or in Sanskrit language, considered the official languages of the dynasty while the official script was Pallava grantha.^[20] The Sinhala script developed from Brahmi script but under the influence of Pallava Grantha.^[20]

Similarly, inscriptions found in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka State are in Prakrit and not in Telugu or Kannada.^[20] The phenomenon of using Prakrit and Sanskrit as the official language in which rulers left their inscriptions and epigraphies continued till 6th century AD. It would have been in the interest of the ruling elite to protect their privileges by perpetuating their hegemony of Prakrit in order to exclude the common people from sharing power (Mahadevan 1995a: 173-188). The Pallavas in their Tamil country also adopted the same method. They used Sanskrit language and Pallava grantha scripts in their official orders.

The earliest copper-plate muniment (legal document) so far discovered in India, is by the Pallavas at an early undated time.^[21] This document was the renewal of a previous grant of a garden made by an earlier king Bappa, to twenty Brahman families of the Atreya, Harita, Bhradvaja, Kausika, Kasyapa, and Vatsya gotras, who were settled in Southern India around the date of this grant.^[21] The grant mentions certain specified shares for the Brahmans, and free from all taxes ; to which was now added a new grant of a piece of land in a neighbouring village for a threshing-floor, and of another piece for house-sites, together also with four cultivating labourers, and two other agricultural serfs attached to the soil. This endowment was created for the increase of the merit, longevity, power, and fame of the donor's family and race.

The grant was issued from Kanchipura, and it is dated on the fifth day of the sixth fortnight of the rainy season in the eight year of the donor's reign. The grant was made by the Pallava king Sivaskanda-varman, who is mentioned as a member of the spiritual guild of rishi Bharadvaja, and an offerer of the Agnishtoma, Vajapeya, and Asvamedha vedic sacrifices.^[21]

The entire body of the inscription is in an old form of Prakrit; but a short benediction in Sanskrit is added at its close, and the king's name on the seal is also written in its Sanskrit form. With regard to the date of the grant, Professor Buhler remarks that "it is impossible to say how the donor is connected with the other Pallava kings known from the sasanas as yet published, or to fix the period when he reigned", but he derives an argument for a tentative early date from the circumstance of its being written in Prakrit.^[21]

Assuming the correctness of the identification of the Pallavas with the pauranic Pahlavas, and of the Pahlavas with the Parthians, there are good historical grounds for supposing that Parthian colonies established themselves in the Deccan at a very early period.^[21] From the time of the separation of Bactria from Syria in the middle of the 3rd century BC, the tendency of the Bactrians, forced by the pressure of their western and northern neighbours, was to extend themselves southwards into India. The Parthians, after their conquest of the Bactrians about a century later, followed up their successes by overrunning the Indian provinces of Bactria. The natural effect of this latter movement was to press the conquered Indo-Bactrians still further southwards and eastwards into India, with the concurrent tendency on the side of the Parthians always to follow up the retreat of their vanquished foes. After another interval, the Indo-Parthians were themselves forced out of their possessions in Afghanistan, Punjab, and Upper India by the Scythian invasion, and their only possible refuge then was in the south.^[21]

Foulkes says in the article "The Early Pallavas of Kánchípura" published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland as follows:

We can follow the footsteps of the refugees, by means of the inscriptions of the Kshatrapas, as far as the upper basin of the Godavari and the northern coast of the Konkans ; and when these substantial materials fail us in tracing their further progress southwards, the very natural conjecture arises that some one of the more enterprising of the defeated Parthian generals would adventure at the head of his remaining troops into the wide plains of the Dakhan (deccan) and carve out for himself a kingdom there, or, perhaps, enter into the service of the existing rulers of the Dakhan as an auxiliary defensive ally, having some frontier province committed to him for the payment of his troops, and with the ultimate inevitable result of establishing his own independent rule there. At this point of our tentative theory we are met by the Ceylonese records showing the great growth of the power of these Parthian colonists at a sufficiently early time, whatever dates may hereafter be attached to the early kings of Ceylon...
[...]
An outline of this kind, pending the discovery of more definite materials to fill in the details, quite consistently prepares us for the next succeeding historical appearance of the Pallavas in Sir Walter Elliot's Vengi copper plates of Vijaya Nandi-varman and the subsequent inscriptions of the Chalukyas, at whose arrival in the Dakhan they found the Pallavas in possession of its western districts, as far at the least as the vicinity of Badami in the middle basin of the Krishna, and of its eastern districts as far north at least as Rajahmahendri (Rajamundry) in the lower basin of the Godavari, and with their capital still at Kanchipura, where Sivaskanda-varman of our present grant reigned several centuries before.....I believe it to be, and his reign fell at any time about the end of the first century AD, or the beginning of the second..

Governance in Kanchipuram[link]

The power of the Pallavas was well established at the time when Sivaskanda-varman is styled " supreme king of great kings," a title which implies paramount authority over other rulers subject to him ; and the circumstance of his having offered the horse-sacrifice, which indicates his own personal appreciation of his great power. His predecessor, immediate or otherwise, King Bappa, was wealthy enough to make donations to Brahmans of a 100,000 Ox ploughs, whatever the multiple of exaggeration may be, and many millions of gold coin.^[21]

Tho Pallava king was assisted in his government by 'ministers" of state and "privy councillors"; and his throne was surrounded by "royal princes." As can be ascertained from the terms of Professor Buhler's translation, they embraced "countries" governed by "prefects" distributed into " rovinces" administered by their "lords," and subdivided into "districts" under the superintendence of their "rulers". Their fiscal arrangements included "custom houses" and "officers" of customs, and "spies" or itinerant superintendents of revenue. They had also some kind of forest department with its staff of "foresters." They maintained a standing army, the brigades of which were commanded by "generals," and its minor groups of rank and file had their non-commissioned officers or "naicks".^[21]

Their village lands were occupied by ryots who paid "eighteen kinds" of contributions to the crown, partly in kind and partly in money ("taxes"). Amongst those which were paid in kind were "sweet and sour milk", "grass and wood" and "vegetables and flowers". They had to plough the crown (state) lands by turns with their "oxen in succession," and it was a part of their obligation to keep the roads and irrigation works in repair by a system of "forced labour". Salt and sugar were royal monopolies; and these not infrequently involved the ryots in "troubles".^[21]

The crown had the power to confer grants of land for religious uses, for "the increase of the merit, longevity, power, and fame of his own family and race," and to exempt the grantees and their grant-lands from the payment of the customary taxes. When such land-grants were made, the agricultural "labourers," and the "kolikas" or village staff, were transferred with the land. These "labourers" received for their remuneration "half the produce," according to the system of varam.^[21]

Description[link]

The word Pallava means "branch", in contrast with Chola meaning "new country", Pandiya meaning "old country" and Chera meaning "hill country" in Sangam Tamil lexicon.^{[citation needed]}

Between 105–150 CE, the ancient capital of the Cholas, Puhar or Kaveripoompuharpatinnam, was submerged in a tsunami during Killivalavan's reign; and he moved the capital to Urayur as noted by Ptolemy.^{[citation needed]} The Chola king annexed a part of his territory as Tondaimandalam and presented it to his son, Ilam Tiriyan, who ruled the kingdom between 150–175 CE. He was a contemporary of Athiyamān Nedumān Añci and Avvaiyar I.^{[citation needed]}

Some of the most illustrious Tamil bhakti poets like the Nayanmars Sambandhar and Tirunavukkarasar, Sanskrit poets Bharavi and Dandin, as well as the seashore rock-cut temples of Mahabalipuram belong to the Pallava era. They developed the Pallava Grantha script, known as Grantha Tamil to write Sanskrit and Manipravalam, an alphabet that would give rise to several other southeast Asian scripts.^{[citation needed]} Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited Kanchipuram during Pallava rule and extolled their benign rule.^{[citation needed]}.

Pallava Chronology[link]

The rule of the Pallavas apparently starts as early as 275 CE, but their greatest epoch corresponds to the 7th and 8th century.^[22]

Early Pallavas[link]

The history of the early Pallavas has not yet been satisfactorily settled. The earliest documentation on the Pallavas is the three copper-plate grants,^[23] belonging to Skandavarman I and written in Prakrit.^[24] Skandavarman appears to have been the first great ruler of the early Pallavas, though there are references to other early Pallavas who were probably predecessors of Skandavarman.^[25]

Skandavarman extended his dominions from the Krishna in the north to the Pennar in the south and to the Bellary district in the West. He performed the Aswamedha and other Vedic sacrifices and bore the title of 'Supreme King of Kings devoted to dharma'.^[24]

In the reign of Simhavarman IV, who ascended the throne in 436 CE, the fallen prestige of the Pallavas was restored. He recovered the territories lost to the Vishnukundins in the north up to the mouth of the Krishna. The early Pallava history from this period onwards is furnished by a dozen or so copper-plate grants in Sanskrit. They are all dated in the regnal years of the kings.^[26]

With the accession of Nandivarman I (480–500 CE), the decline of the early Pallava family was seen. The Kadambas had their aggressions and attacked even the headquarters of the Pallavas with the Pallavas taking retaliatory measures by expelling and invading Kadamba territories in Karnataka. In coastal Andhra the Vishnukundins established their ascendency. The Pallava authority was confined to Tondaimandalam.

With the accession of Simhavishnu, father of Mahendravarman I, (c. 575 CE), the Pallava revival began in the south.

Later Pallavas[link]

The rock-cut temples at Mamallapuram constructed during the reign of Narasimhavarma I

Elephant carved out of a single-stone

The incursion of the Kalabhras and the confusion in the Tamil country was broken by the Pandya Kadungon and the Pallava Simhavishnu.^[27][28] The King Mahendravarman I re-established the Pallava Kingdom after defeating the Kalabhras. Some of the most ornate monuments at Mamallapuram, were constructed under the rule of King Mahendravarman I. The Pallava kingdom began to gain both in territory and influence over the South Indian peninsula and were a regional power by the end of the 6th century, defeating kings of Ceylon and mainland Tamilakkam.^[29] The Pallavas exercised control over their southern neighbours of Cholas and Pandyas. But their history is marked by the continuous conflict with the Badami Chalukyas.^[29]

Narasimhavarman I and Paramesvaravarman I were the kings who stand out with glorious achievements in both military and architectural spheres. Narasimhavarman II built the Shore Temple.

• Simhavishnu 555–590 CE
• Mahendravarman I 590–630 CE
• Narasimhavarman I (Mamalla) 630–668 CE
• Mahendravarman II 668–672 CE
• Paramesvaravarman I 672–700 CE
• Narasimhavarman II (Raja Simha) 700–728 CE
• Paramesvaravarman II 705–710 CE
• Nandivarman II (Pallavamalla) 732–796 CE
• Dantivarman 775–825 CE
• Nandivarman III 825–869 CE
• Aparajithavarman 882–901 CE

Kadava kingdom[link]

During the thirteenth and the fourteenth centuries CE, a small principality of the Kadava dynasty came into brief prominence. These rulers claimed descent from the Pallavas. The notable rulers of this dynasty are Kopperunchinga I (reigned c. 1216–1242 CE), and his son and successor Kopperunchinga II (c. 1243–1279 CE). Together they extended the influence of their kingdom and played a major part in the ultimate demise of the Chola dynasty.

Religion[link]

Pallavas were followers of Hinduism and made gifts of land to gods and Brahmins. In line with the prevalent customs, some of the rulers performed the Aswamedha and other Vedic sacrifices.^[26] They were, however, tolerant of other faiths. The Chinese monk Xuanzang who visited Kanchipuram during the reign of Narasimhavarman I reported that there were 100 Buddhist monasteries, and 80 temples in Kanchipuram.^[30]

Mahendravarman I was initially a patron of the Jain faith. He later re-converted to Hinduism under the influence of the Saiva saint Appar with the revival of Hinduism during the Bhakti movement in South India.^[31]

Pallava architecture[link]

The Shore Temple at Mahabalipuram built by Narasimhavarman II

The Pallavas were instrumental in the transition from rock-cut architecture to stone temples. The earliest examples of Pallava constructions are rock-cut temples dating from 610–690 CE and structural temples between 690–900 CE. A number of rock-cut cave temples bear the inscription of the Pallava king, Mahendravarman I and his successors.^[32]

The greatest accomplishments of the Pallava architecture are the rock-cut temples at Mahabalipuram. There are excavated pillared halls and monolithic shrines known as rathas in Mahabalipuram. Early temples were mostly dedicated to Shiva. The Kailasanatha temple in Kanchipuram and the Shore Temple built by Narasimhavarman II, rock cut temple in Mahendravadi by Mahendravarman are fine examples of the Pallava style temples.^[33] The temple of Nalanda Gedige in Kandy, Sri Lanka is another. The famous Tondeswaram temple of Tenavarai and the ancient Koneswaram temple of Trincomalee were patronized and structurally developed by the Pallavas in the 7th century.

See also[link]

• History of India

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Avari, Burjor (2007). India: The Ancient Past. New York: Routledge. 
• Dubreuil, G. Jouveau; Dikshitar, V. S. Swaminadha (1995). The Pallavas. India: Asian Educational Services. ISBN 81-206-0574-8. 
• Hermann, Kulke; Rothermund D (2001) [2000]. A History of India. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-32920-5. 
• Minakshi, Cadambi (1938). Administration and Social Life Under the Pallavas. Madras: University of Madras. 
• Nilakanta Sastri, K.A (2002) [1955]. A History of South India. New Delhi: OUP. 
• Prasad, Durga (1988). History of the Andhras up to 1565 A.D.. Guntur, India: P.G. Publishers. 
• "South Indian Inscriptions". Archaeological Survey of India. What Is India Publishers (P) Ltd. http://www.whatisindia.com/inscriptions/. Retrieved 2008-05-30. 

External links[link]

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